Isogeometric Analysis for Nuclear Engineering

Finite element analysis (FEA) is severely underutilized in the mining industry. The complexity of the physics and the geometry of mining problems is not suitably handled by the faceted mesh descriptions commonly used in other industries, such as automotive and aerospace. Furthermore, the time required to convert computer-aided design (CAD) files and geologic survey data to FEA is prohibitively long, commonly taking several weeks. Consequently, mine operators commonly reject using FEA for critical applications, instead relying on rules of thumb and observations to make decisions that impact mine investments that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. This results in less than optimal mining environments. The objectives proposed in this project will return more accurate simulation results, streamline the CAD design/FEA simulation workflow, and accelerate simulations by leveraging isogeometric analysis (IGA). In previous work, IGA paradigms have produced simulations up to 500 times faster. The proposed work will leverage and improve DOE Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)-funded software to bring this fundamentally new approach to simulation to the mining sector. IGA enhances FEA by using a CAD description directly in the analysis. This eliminates defeaturing and mesh generation steps while improving accuracy. A patent-pending break- through called U-splines is key to successfully using IGA in this manner. U-splines are a geometric representation suitable for both CAD and FEA. During this SBIR Phase I project, ASCR-funded codes PetSc, Zoltan, and Paraview will be leveraged in the research and development of a toolset to apply IGA to a challenging mining simulation problem: load capacity tests of steel arch mining supports. The developed toolset will shorten the time required to complete mining simulations, and increase confidence in their results. This will lead directly to the potential for greater mine safety and more accurate fracturing prediction for fracking. This proposal builds off other SBIRs previously awarded to bring the power of IGA to the automotive and defense industries. These industries share requirements and are traditionally served by the same CAD/FEA software used by mining, and the differences will be addressed in this proposal.